The archaeopteryx lived 150 million years ago, in the late Jurassic period,
the era when reptiles dominated the main ecological niches. At the time, central
Europe, including what is now Germany, had a tropical climate. The specimens of
the archaeopteryx appear to have fallen into a saltwater lagoon and been covered
with silt. Their preservation by nature was so gentle that the structure of
their feathers has been retained in the fossil.

Feathers on wings speak of a bird. So does the archaeopteryx's furculum or
wishbone. The wishbone arises from the fusion of the two collarbones and
provides the necessary solid base for the wing muscles. The feathered tad is
further evidence that the archaeopteryx was a bird. But this animal also had
jaws with teeth, not a beak, a long bony tail, and claws on its wing-like arms
and its feet. It begins to sound like a reptile and not a bird.

Or was it a mix of the two? It is called "the perfect example of a
transitional form in the evolution of modern birds from reptiles."26

It combines two distinct classes (reptile and bird) in a single animal. So
impressive is this link in the line of evolution that "a visiting professor
actually fell upon his knees in awe" when he first saw the specimen housed in
Britain's Natural History Museum.27

In the third book of the Bible, Leviticus, there is a list of ritually pure
and impure animals. The list divides animals into categories: the insects in one
place, fish in another, and so forth. In Leviticus 11:18 birds are listed. Among
them we find the tinshemet. Twelve verses later (Lev. 11:30), the
reptiles are listed. And behold, the tinshemet appears again. The same
name, spelled identically (tuf nun shin mem tuf in the Hebrew) is given
for a bird and for a reptile because at one level of biblical meaning the animal
fell into both categories.

In the entire Bible, there is the one reference to an animal that falls into
two categories, the tinshemet. In the entire fossil record there is one
fossil that falls exactly midway between two classes of animals, the
archaeopteryx. And both the archaeopteryx and the tinshemet are part
reptile, part bird. It is the "link" that never was missing.

26 P. Wellnhefer, "Archeopteryx." Scientific American, May 1990

27 R. Gore, "The Cambrian Period Explosion of Life" National Geographic
184:125, October 1993

p.s. For those who don't have the original Hebrew, the translations of
Tinshemet vary from version to version. In the King James the words are:-